Title

Authors

Publication Date

1-9-1988

Series Number

76

Abstract

The Carlton Plains covers approximately 11,750 ha midway between Wyndham and Kununurra on the northern bank of the Ord River in the Shire of East Kimberley. The survey area is divided into two geomorphic units, the clay plains and the levee areas. Soils of the former generally belong to the Cununurra family of cracking clays while those of the levees are generally more variable and of medium texture.Samples of the major soils were collected for mechanical analysis and basic chemical analysis.Sodium chloride percentages and exchangeable sodium percentages are both high on the clay soils of the western plain. The suitability of these areas for irrigated agriculture is doubtful. Four thousand five hundred hectares of clay soils of the eastern plains could be suitable for furrow irrigation subject to further study of the effects o firrigation on the leaching of salt and the exchangeable sodium percentages.Three thousand nine hundred and forty hectares of variable but generally lighter textured levee soils may be suitable for agriculture provided appropriate management and erosion control measures are used. Lighter textured soils may suffer from surface crusting and water erosion when irrigated.